Adventures of a farmer's daughter in Hawaii

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It’s Not the Right to Know but Big Organic vs. The Small Papaya Grower

My thoughts on the whole biotech issue here in Hawaii… When you’re a doctor, your authority is respected. You can decide the treatment for your patients and the kind of medicines that you will prescribe. When you’re a dentist, you are also allowed to decide your plan of care for that resident. These professionals have gone to school and training to get the expertise that they do to work in their respected fields. They hold the expertise to do what they do.

The general public and politicians are not allowed to dictate to these professionals what their clinical decisions will be. It is just not in their scope or expertise to take up such roles and is unethical for them to decide that.

Given that, why the heck are we allowing the general public and politicians to be given full authority to decide for farmers what they can and can’t do? Many farmers have been working in their professions for decades and have degrees to back it up. The professionals that support them also have a lot of training and expertise to help farmers. They know the science and base knowledge to help get things grown. Their authority is being questioned by a public informed via internet memes and conspiracy theories.

All the meanwhile, the public and politicians are allowed to point finger and dictate what you can and can’t do, yet they have NO experience or expertise in agriculture but get the louder voice. They use the claim that they are the customer which gives them the right. If you’re the patient telling your doctor how you want to be treated because it’s your right, I bet most doctors will say go find yourself another one. They won’t take that, and nor will a farmer. Go find your food from another farmer which is you’re right but don’t tell all farmers what they can and can’t do!

What this whole issue really boils down to is that it’s not the “customers” telling farmers how to do things, it’s an industry. Yes, it’s that big industry that are funding these campaigns to tell people and politicians what farmers need to do. It’s the organic industry that’s behind this disingenuous “right to know” campaign and marches across the world. Essentially, the small farmers like my dad are being told by the likes of organic activists from the Hawaii Center for Food Safety, Ashley Lukens and her boss Andrew Kimbrell, Ronnie Cummins, NYT writer Michael Pollan, former Representative Jessica Wooley, Representative Tulsi Gabbard, and the bikini clad Naomi Carmona, that they have to listen to their demands. None of them are farmers or have any training to make the claims they do or know what it’s like to be subject to the uncontrollable elements of the job. These people suddenly can point fingers and tell you what you can and can’t use and how you’re going to have YOUR product labeled as it’s your call.

These people have no qualms making false claims and outright lies about the papayas my dad grows, and nor do they have any experience or expertise in farming or agriculture. If my dad were to go out publicly and tell people lies and spread harmful rumors about something, it would look badly upon him and would be called out. He would never stoop to that level ever, but it’s okay to do that if you’re in the organic industry. It’s acceptable to spread misinformation to your supporters to make others look bad. This is never condemned but rather cheered and supported with lots of concerts and parties to further it. It’s okay for them to do this apparently and when it’s called out, they ignore the facts and keep it from others. Scientific evidence to these people are all considered “propaganda.”

I just can’t sit back and be quiet about what’s happening to farmers like my dad and brother. They are the professionals who should be respected and heard, not the activists who are loud, rude and obnoxious. We rely on the farmer’s knowledge and expertise to get our food and it’s not the opposite. If we’re not the ones growing it, we’d better learn from those who do grow it instead of listening to what a dishonest industry is funding people to say and do. The organic industry is the Goliath that my dad and brother are up against. It’s a war only to be won on facts and truth, something that the organic industry is incapable of embodying.